Microsoft Is Giving Away $500,000 Free Azure Credits, 3 Years Of Office 365 And More For Y Combinator Startups

Y Combinator today announced their partnership with Microsoft to offer $500,000 worth of free Azure credit, three years of Office 365, access to Microsoft developer teams and more.

We are happy to announce the Microsoft will be giving $500,000 of free Azure hosting credit to YC startups in our Winter 2015 batch and future batches. This is a big deal for many startups—it’s common for hosting to be the second largest expense after salaries. Microsoft is also giving YC startups three years of Office 365, access to Microsoft developer staff, and one year of free CloudFlare and DataStax enterprise services.

This brings the total value of special offers extended to each YC company to well over $1,000,000. The relentless nagging from partners to grow faster we throw in for free.

I think it is a great move from Microsoft to attract mode startups to the Azure world.

Microsoft’s announcement regarding this,

Microsoft has long been committed to startups, to helping them solve unique challenges, in ways that they value. At Microsoft we are fortunate to have forged strong partnerships that together bring unique value to Startups globally. This relationship is one that will allow us to continue evolving by talking to, working with and learning from startups and from a great partner like Y Combinator.

Partnering with Y Combinator is both an extension of our commitment to startups, as well as an expression of Microsoft’s culture and values to add greater value through partnering, than by going it alone. We continue to invest in the Startup ecosystem and to look for opportunities to foster innovation around the world, both directly and through our partners.